wreath
noun
- assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɹiːθ/ / /ɹiθ/ / /ɹiːð/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English wreth, wrethe (“coiled or rounded shape; decorative garland, wreath; chaplet, crown; ring”, noun), from Old English wrǣd, wrǣþ, wriþa (“bandage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”). Doublet of wreathe and writhe.
- Something twisted, intertwined, or curled.
“a wreath of smoke a wreath of clouds”
“The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.”
- An ornamental circular band made, for example, of plaited flowers and leaves, and used as decoration; a garland or chaplet, especially one given to a victor.
“So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.”
- A defect in glass.
- An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest; an orle, a torse. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the coat of arms.
verb
Etymology: See wreathe.
- Alternative spelling of wreathe.
“Sale) or Salovv a kind of vvoodde like VVyllovv, fit to vvreath and bynde in leapes to catch fiſh vvithall.”
“[T]o wreſt the will of man, or to wreath his hearte to our humours, it is not in the compaſſe of Arte, but in the power of the moſt higheſt.”